Ex inmate of Muzaffarpur shelter home who was gang-raped not given enough protection: NCW

The National Commission for Women on Friday said the former inmate of the Muzaffarpur shelter home was not reunited with her family despite court orders and also not given any protection after she moved back to her hometown.

The woman, who had been an inmate of the infamous Muzaffarpur shelter home, was allegedly raped by four men in a moving vehicle in Bettiah town of West Champaran district, Bihar, on Sunday.

The Muzaffarpur shelter home had hit the headlines in 2018 after a social audit report highlighted that over 30 girls were allegedly raped at the government-aided shelter home, run by an NGO.

The National Commission for Women (NCW) had formed a committee to look into the case.

Prima facie, the NCW made the observation that the victim was not reunited with her family despite the orders by the court.

"She was sent to Mokama from Muzzaffarpur shelter home. Her father had to apply for her release in Mokama to get her back in Bettiah, her hometown," the report said.

Another observation made by the NCW was that the victim was not given any protection after she moved back to Bettiah from the shelter home.

The NCW said it found that she got married despite being a minor.

"The age proof of the victim is not valid her Aadhaar card denotes her age to be 11 years while as per the medical examination it should be between 16-17 years though she claims her age to be 18 years," the NCW said in its report.

"She was operating her bank account on her own despite it being a minor account. She got school admission in a class as per her choice without the right age proof. She got married despite she being a minor," it said.

The report prepared by the NCW has been submitted to the Home Ministry, the Ministry of Women and Child Development along with other concerned ministries.

The committee headed by NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma travelled to Bihar on September 19-20 to meet the victim.

Sharma met the victim and her family. She has directed SP Patna to send the victim to a rehabilitation centre with full protection.

She also discussed other pending cases in the commission from Bihar with the police officials and stressed the need for gender sensitization of police officials particularly SHOs, IOs and SPs who handle cases related to crime against women and women convicts.